With the New Year approaching and considering the blessings we’ve all received this past year in our own lives apart from, and possibly in relation to, this site, I’d like to take some space over the next few days for myself (and the other editors who want to join in) to look back over the year and offer an opinion of the “best of 2007″ articles.

Yesterday, we gave the dear readers/commenters on the site their “vote” (based on web-hits) for the most popular articles of the year, and so now I think it is only fitting that the writers take their picks, if they so desire. Here are my Top 15 (’cause I had a hard enough time getting to 15, let alone 10!) I could not, in good conscience, include any of my own articles, as I would probably not be a good judge of a “best of”, though my favorite one to write was the Chosen: To What Purpose series and the one that probably represented the biggest change to myself was this one.

So, without more rambling, here’s my list:

1. Mr. Corley Goes to Washington – I can’t say how much Mike’s example should speak to other ODM’s on how to conduct actual “research” into those they may desire to criticize. This also speaks to such things as reading books before you critique them, etc.
2. Humor Day – Rick Frueh came in from out of the blue with this one, and it was great seeing everyone “play nice” and get into the spirit of laughing together.
3. Why Do I Write Here? – Joe Martino, one of the first co-editors here at CRN.Info lays out his reasons for writing here. Of all the writers here “on staff”, Joe’s passion is always evident and transparent. This article is one I like to go back to.
4. Are Women Human? – I have to say that, based on my conversations with her, I expected Julie would quietly dip her toe in the water with her first post here on CRN.Info. Instead, she just jumped right in with both feet, and it was an interesting conversation to have.
5. If You Don’t Agree With Us, You’re Going to Hell – The title pretty much describes one of hundreds of CR?N articles from the previous year, but its subject matter was an article by Mike Ratliff that raised matters of conviction to the level of essential doctrine.
6. Christian [Insert Noun or Verb] – As we keep butting up against such human classification as “secular” vs. “Christian”, Neil did an excellent job laying out the logical inconsistency in trying to classify things as “Christian”
7. Do Seeker Sensitive Churches Produce False Christians? – I have to admit that one of the things that irks me most is the way some folks bandy about charges of mass numbers of believers as “false Christians”, particularly when it is because the accused don’t hold to the same systematic theology as the accuser. John D did a great job defending one such group of believers in this article.
8. Dan Responds To His Critics – One of the things I set out to do when I set up this site was to give a place for those folks mauled by the watchdoggies a platform from which to respond, if they so desired. This article was just such an occasion, where we gave Dan Kimball the floor to defend himself against Ken Silva’s slander.
9. Suddenly It All Becomes Clear – Contrary to popular belief, I’m not an anti-Calvinist. I know a good number of Christians who believe in part – or in whole – much of what Calvin taught, and I would never hesitate to call them my brother. Brendt is one of those kind folks and he does a beautiful job with what I think was his first article here on CRN.Info. I also loved the comments section of the article which spent most of the time in rational discourse without lots of sidetracking.
10. Was Wesley a Christian? – An excellent post by Matt B, who seems to have a knack for visiting the way-back machine and making history (dare I say) relevant to current events.
11. Preach it Brother (and only preach it) – Wow! I had thought that the “Regulative Principal of Worship” was an artifact of the A Capella Churches of Christ, but this piece showed me how wrong I was. What it seemed to underline was how little faith we have in the Spirit to lead when it doesn’t match our preconceived notions whose roots are actually apart from scripture…
12. Lessons from the Language Incidents – an excellent summation from what was learned in the discussion about language and the attack-mechanics of O”D”M’s
13. Irony, Thy Name is Ingrid – As a fan of Francis Schaeffer years ago, I found his son Frank’s autobiography to be interesting (confession: this article got me to pick it up and skim it a Border’s over lunch, but I’ve still not bought it for a full read). Ingrid’s review seemed to be of a completely different book, which Phil seemed to notice, as well…
14. Serving Christian Dirt – Back in August, Rick dug into some of what seems to be behind the “need” to dish dirt on other Christians, and the sad state of ODM affairs. It was a sobering article.
15. Just The Facts, Ingrid, About Christmas at Saddleback – The ODM “reviews” of the Saddleback Christmas program last year were pretty much written before the event even took place, and John D did a great job pointing out what actually happened and how it honored God.

So, there you go – I could easily have gone to 25 or 30 – which was where I started – but I have to say I’m consistently and pleasantly pleased with all of the writers who have participated here in 2007. Thank you all of you!